


an apple is a link

by redsukiriot



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: #tgweek2020, Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, all relationships strictly platonic, but not really, day 1 bonds / friends, i had a mighty need of urietouka bonding and being friends, if you squint lightly very lighty implied mutsurie, ish, it's just a matter of interpretation of 1 line of uries thoughts, only tagged this for safety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redsukiriot/pseuds/redsukiriot
Summary: Prompt for day 1 of #tgweek2020 brought to us by @tgzine on twitter (tumblr, instagram):- bonds / friendsUrie Kuki had his life on track, as much as it was possible after everything else. What was most stable in his life was his system, the people who got his back. His family.Now, Kuki didn't consider Kaneki Touka part of his family, per se. She's annoying and rude to him when her kid isn't around - actually, they were mutually mean to each other; they bickered. It was a friendship either they admitted or not. A bond forged during a war and strengthened thanks to Ken and Saiko, mostly. The 29 year old, blue-haired woman never stopped treating Ken as her "maman sassan", not leaving much room for Touka to be anything else but her other maman.They merged, a bit, their families.
Relationships: Kaneki Ichika & Kirishima Touka, Kaneki Ichika & Urie Kuki, Kirishima Touka & Urie Kuki, Kirishima Touka & Yonebayashi Saiko, Mutsuki Tooru & Urie Kuki, Urie Kuki & Yonebayashi Saiko
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	an apple is a link

**Author's Note:**

  * For [uchihas1000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchihas1000/gifts).



> hi, i have always had a mighty need for touka and urie bonding, so there it is :)

"You're husband's an idiot. Tell me how do you handle living with him, raising a child with him? it doesn't make any sense."

"Talkative much today, huh, urie-kun? What warranted this? Tell me while I make your coffee." Touka said while she gathered the coffee beans and the grinder.

"It's just. You know?"

"I have crystal wings, Urie, not a crystal ball. Can you fuc- hey, Ichika! Hi babe, wasn't expecting you up this soon. How was your sleep? Are you hungry? Say hi to Urie-kun."

The little girl ran and clung herself to the man's legs, smiling from ear to ear and having those huge mismatched eyes say hi instead of her mouth.

"Hi, Ichika."

"..."

The girl didn't answer and absolutely did not unlatch herself from his legs.

"Is everything alright, kid?"

"..."

"Ichika, babe, get off of urie-kun. You're creeping him out with your cuteness." Touka said through an airy laugh and a smile, Urie could admit it was really beautiful on the woman's face. He coughed before speaking again.

"She's not creeping me out, she's just a kid, but-"

"Apples." the kid prompted.

"Wrong tree, Kaneki kid."

"I want  _ the _ apples."

"Sure...? You're mom must have them in the kitchen, right?" he looked pleading at Touka.

"You want _ the _ apples, Ichika? Tooru's apples?" The given name slipping through  _ her _ lips made him shiver.

Well.

"Oh." Touka saw the shiver going through kuki's neck when she mentioned Tooru's name. She  _ now _ could grasp where all the misplaced insults on her husband came from. 

_ Kind of misplaced _ , she thought.

"'Oh' what?" Kuki easily retrieved the girl from the ground, placing her around his waist, a new place for her to latch her little legs and arms and still throw those charged, glimmering looks that he now knows are asking for the apples Tooru always sends her.

"This is about Tooru," Touka said. "he's the idiot, not Ken."

"No, I'm pretty sure he is an idiot and insufferable."

"But this is still about Tooru, right?"

"... (yes, once again it's about him. what am i supposed to do?)"

"I can see you talking in your mind, but I'm not Saiko nor Tooru to guess what it is. Spare me, bitchy boy."

"There's a kid here, your kid?"

"You either spill or you get your coffee and out of here."

"Fine, it's about him."

Urie Kuki had his life on track, as much as it was possible after everything else. What was most stable in his life was his system, the people who got his back. His family.

Now, Kuki didn't consider Kaneki Touka part of his family, per se. She's annoying and rude to him when her kid isn't around - actually, they were mutually mean to each other; they bickered. It was a friendship either they admitted or not. A bond forged during a war and strengthened thanks to Ken and Saiko, mostly. The 29 year old, blue-haired woman never stopped treating Ken as her "maman sassan", not leaving much room for Touka to be anything else but her other maman.

They merged, a bit, their families.

Tooru somehow was part of it and not part of it. He was here with them, and suddenly he was not. He sent apples to Ichika, he mentioned hi and hellos for her in his mails; he chatted with touka on the phone sometimes. He was part of it, but he was barely here.

Touka knows.

Touka gets it. She went through something similar. Loving someone who feels they need to go and do the things by themselves; some sack of self-sacrificing shit.

Ken went away to get stronger and protect his loved ones at first - not entering the "please, i need everyone to love me and to find me not a waste of space!!" - because there's not a single person in that café that is not tired about it.

Tooru went away to heal by himself and protect himself; from memories, from forgiveness, from seeing his flaws reflected back to himself but also to protect his loved ones from him.

That's what Kuki tried to force himself to explain, sipping his coffee held in one hand, the other still holding Ichika.

"Nothing about this is news. Missing his place on the table filled with his presence, his chatting with saiko... him. Missing him."

"Is he visiting the chateau less?"

"No, he goes there often, though fleeting."

"He's a guest. He's always passing by."

"Yeah. The chateau is our home, it's his, but he's always passing by."

"But your bond with him isn't just passing by, just like my bond with ken didn't. Isn't that also right?"

"... (... yes.)"

"Does he know?"

"... (figures. did he even paid enough attention?)"

"Does he know it's his home?"

"Yes, the younger kids love him. They want him to move in."

"Ok urie, but does he know? He knows he has a family and as far as I can see, he keeps all of you at arm's length, as much as he can. He calls, he writes, he visits. He's not there when you want, but he's always coming back. So. Does he know it's his home, not his family home?"

Kuki's mouth was left hanging open and like magic, the café's door rang his bells announcing a client to admire Kuki's humiliated face.

He composed himself and finished drinking his coffee, but before the last drop hitted his tongue, he heard a familiar voice calling him.

"Princess Urie! You left saiko behind this morning. This is low even for you, leaving your second commander to fend for herself."

"I see you're not dead or traumatized for life, Saiko. Was Urie mean to you?" Touka greeted her with a hug and guided the short woman to a table.

"He's less evil with every day that passes, but he still leaves me, maman! I'm gonna riot!"

"If you can riot, you can sleep at a proper hour and get yourself out of the bed without mine's or siao's help." Kuki deadpanned at her.

"Those are different things, uri-bo. There's riot and revolution, and there's gameboy and sleep." Saiko said it so seriously that Touka couldn't hold a laugh.

"Oh Saiko, it's on the house. And here's your bill, Urie-kun."

"Bitch," he whispered looking into her eyes.

"Better keep your thoughts to yourself or I'll charge for listening to your bitching, and there's nothing Ken can do to save you."

"Tsk."

"Talk to him. Say all those things, show him your bond it's just as real as it can be. Tell him he has a home  _ if _ he wants to. Now leave."

He gave Ichika back to the ground, gently, and promised Tooru would be bringing her apples soon.

And it was soon, when Tooru parked his car in front of the chateau only 2 days later.

And it was soon, on the same day, that he gave Tooru his home back, his sense of belonging.

When the car didn't leave the parking lot, he didn't think of touka being a bitch and the unfamiliarity of touka's name on his tongue.

When he was making Tooru his favourite coffee and wondering about the next days, about Tooru not only passing by now...

He thought of making Kaneki Touka some coffee, for a change.

**Author's Note:**

> i appreciate kudos and comments.
> 
> find me on twitter: @redsukiriot  
> and on tumblr: sasukeyeol.tumblr.com


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